


On The Other Side

by Higuchimon



Series: Bonds of Kinship [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Chapter Set Boot Camp, Character Diversity Boot Camp, Christmas Advent 2017, Diversity Writing Challenge, GX Month 2020, Gen, Include The Word Boot Camp, Pre-Canon & Post-Canon, Word Count Set Boot Camp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26434495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higuchimon/pseuds/Higuchimon
Summary: He's spent his entire life in Dark World, and seldom enjoyed any of it.  But now that Dark World isn't so Dark, will the life of Johan's mysterious lookalike perk up?  No, probabl not.  The past never stays in the past.
Series: Bonds of Kinship [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604950
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	On The Other Side

**Series:** Bonds of Kinship|| **Title:** On The Other Side  
**Characters:** Rune, Latinum War God of Dark World  
**Chapters:** One|| **Words:** 1,522  
**Genre:** Fantasy, Supernatural|| **Rated:** G  
**Challenges:** Diversity Writing, GX canon, I47, fantasy genre; Include The Word Boot Camp, #33, robust; Word Count Set Boot Camp, GX, #11, 12,574; Chapter Set Boot Camp, #9, 8 chapters; Christmas Advent 2017, #4, expand on a character who doesn't get much focus in canon; Character Diversity Boot Camp, #22, passive (Rune); GX Month day #12, And You Are?  
**Notes:** Okay, I've been looking forward to this day. Rune straddles the line of OC & canon, because he _did_ appear but he had a handful of lines, no name, and no real history. I've given him all of that - and a life after canon. Here we go. This will cross between before season 3's events and after them.  
**Summary:** He's spent his entire life in Dark World, and seldom enjoyed any of it. But now that Dark World isn't so Dark, will the life of Johan's mysterious lookalike perk up? No, probabl not. The past never stays in the past.

* * *

Rune stared down at the tiny pile of coins and wished that they would somehow multiply themselves into enough to purchase at least a place by a warm fire somewhere. Right now he could _possibly_ get a few pieces of food, and probably not that great food either. 

_I could try and persuade some innkeeper to let me scrub pots for a while._ It wouldn’t be the first time that he’d done it. Doing that could possibly earn him a place to sleep and a little bit of food. Pot-boys weren’t exactly paid that well. 

With a sigh he tucked the coins back into the tiny pouch that served to carry his money. The problem with trying to persuade an innkeeper was that there weren’t any in the area and he had no idea of how far it would be until he reached some point of civilization. 

How long had he been wandering? The yellow light in the sky – the sun, he reminded himself, he’d heard someone call it that – had risen and set almost a dozen times since he’d awakened here. He wasn't even sure why he’d somehow ended up here. He’d been in Zure’s dungeon and then – pain. So munch pain. 

He’d grown up in this world. He’d seen the comet that coursed across the sky so often that even now he could close his eyes and see it there again, when it hadn’t been there since – well, when he woke up it hadn’t been there. He wasn’t sure when exactly it had vanished. A few people he’d talked to said it hadn’t been long before that, a handful of days at best. People picked up new terms very fast and he learned that “days” meant when the sun went down and the smaller silver light of the moon and an infinite number of tiny sparkling lights he’d learned were called ‘stars’. 

No one knew why it happened. Though most people agreed that the comet faded at the time of the defeat of some warlord – Haou was the name that he’d heard. That name meant nothing at all to Rune. There did seem to be quite a few horror stories involving him. Rune didn’t believe most of them. They sounded so strange, even with what he’d seen over the last few years of his life. 

He had far more pressing matters to deal with in his life than a dead warlord, though. He’d woken up in the ruins of Zure’s dungeon, completely alone. Even that strange kid who’d released him hadn’t been there. With nothing else to do and needing to eat just like anyone else, Rune started wandering. He picked up odd jobs here and there, gathering these few coins, and traveled, listening and learning. 

At least this forest had enough fruit trees and berry bushes so he wasn’t going to actually starve to death. But as he wandered, he spied a few traces of wildlife trails, a few rabbits, a deer or two, probably more that he didn’t recognize. All seeing that did was make him even hungrier at the thought of well-roasted meat. How long had it been since he’d had actual meat? Good meat, not the leavings of someone else’s meal. _I think it was – before_ Yes, that had been it. He’d wandered a lot before then as well; he was very good at it. He’d happened across a festival and put in several hours helping anyone who needed it. He’d been rewarded with one of the best meals he could remember having – a huge slice of meat, dripping with gravy, and several other side dishes. He didn’t remember most of what they were called, just well roasted and flavored vegetables and a few fruit, along with one or two other things that he failed to recognize. For one of the few times in his life he’d gone to bed with a full stomach. 

That meant it had probably been up to five years earlier. He might get lucky enough to find another place that held a festival when he passed through and get another treat like that, but Rune thoroughly and firmly reminded himself not to expect that. He made certain to remember that good luck of that caliber struck only once in a lifetime and he should have treasured it more when it happened. 

_You have to pay for everything you get,_ he told himself as he skipped over a tumbling river, water splashing all around his ankles, cold as ice. _You had a good time then and you almost died because of it._

Maybe he had died. Because after the festival he’d slept off his greed and been lazy in how he wandered around, not nearly as cautious, presuming that he’d found a place he could rest a while. He’d not known that the festival had been in honor of Latinum, War God of Dark World. Or that his servants followed Rune for days afterwards. 

He tried not to shiver too much at _those_ memories. But he didn’t succeed very well. He’d survived all those years somehow. He didn’t want to go back to them. 

He hadn’t known. There hadn’t been any way that he could have known. There hadn’t been any signs anywhere . He’d just wandered by some fruit trees and pulled off a delicious looking orange. He’d done it many times elsewhere and nothing had come of it. He’d thought it would be the same here. 

Everything had been fine – until he’d settled down to rest and just when he dropped his guard entirely, safe in the cave he’d chosen to nap in, he’d frozen, unable to move. Someone reached into the cave and dragged him out by the nape of his neck, dumping him at the feet of a tall, powerful monster. It was silver-gray all over,with large bat-like wings coming from the shoulders, and a lazily lashing tail. 

“This is the one?” His voice sent chills all through Rune, and he struggled uselessly in hopes that he could get away. But whatever spell bound him wasn’t so easy to dispel. 

“Yes, Latinum-sama,” someone else said. Rune couldn’t see who it was, only that the voice came from up high and the speaker stood behind him. “He stole your fruit.” 

Rune wanted at once to scream that he hadn’t known, that he wouldn’t have if he had known. But he could not make a move. The Dark World monster continued to regard him, much as one might regard a common insect.” 

“Theft is a crime punishable by death, human,” Latinum declared. “I will not have what is mine taken from me.” 

Rune’s throat closed up. He wanted to scream. He didn’t _want_ to die. He didn’t have the best life, but it was his, and that was all he’d ever wanted. Latinum continued. 

“You are young and clearly untrained in combat – not very robust, either. You could not amuse me with your death.” 

That wasn’t at all what Rune wanted to hear. What he heard next he wanted even less. 

“Therefore, I will spare your life. For now. You will enter my service and obey my every command. Should you please me, I may pardon you at some point.” 

Rune couldn’t imagine a life serving Latinum, or anyone else. But he was hauled up, thrown over the shoulder of one of Latinum’s servants, and the entire company moved along. Rune wasn’t allowed to move until they returned to the large castle the War God lived in. No one spoke to him; they discussed other matters such as the harvest, combat training, and situations with other members of the Dark World clan. He heard Brron’s name, spoken in tones of disgust, many times. 

He’d been thirteen when that happened. Measuring time in Dark World then wasn’t that easy, but that was close enough for him. As soon as they reached the castle, he was taken to the forge, and fitted with a rough collar to indicate he was Latinum’s property. No one was allowed to hurt him – except Latinum of course. Rune didn’t think that was much of a privilege. 

But he’d worked. He hadn’t had any real options. Latinum wasn’t easy to work for but Rune did his best, if only for the simple fact he got fed and a dry place to sleep at night. He’d wondered if he might stay there forever – more because Latinum probably wouldn’t let him go. 

He hadn’t. At least not for nearly three years. He made sure that Rune worked from the moment he got up to the moment he fell into bed, so exhausted in those early days that he could usually just start moving again when he opened his eyes. Latinum made sure he couldn’t do more work than he could recover from in a single night’s rest. Rune suspected some people would call him a ‘good master’. He didn’t believe that. 

Especially not when it came to the reason Latinum got rid of him in the end. For that, Rune would never consider him ‘good’. He would, however, happily call him a bastard unto the end of his days. 

* * *

**To Be Continued**

**Notes:** Okay, I will finish the story after GX month.


End file.
